The phrase first entered the popular lexicon in 1987 when Lt. Col. Oliver North was testifying on national television before Congress. A congressman told North's attorney, Brendan Sullivan, to let the colonel speak for himself if he wanted to object, and Sullivan replied, "What am I, a potted plant?"

Democrats in the Republican-controlled Georgia General Assembly don't want to be relegated to the window box. Instead, they have tried to influence the legislative process despite rules that concentrate power in Republican hands.

The Democratic leaders acknowledge that much of their effectiveness boils down to getting news coverage.

"We've got to get our message out a little bit better," said Rep. DuBose Porter, a Dublin Democrat who fell from speaker pro tem last session to House minority leader after the Republican takeover.

His Senate counterpart, Sen. Robert Brown, D-Macon, was blunt. "We haven't accomplished much," he said to a group of reporters Wednesday.

With limits on the time allowed for floor debate and restrictions on amendments, Democrats have found Wednesday afternoon press conferences to be one tool still available, though some of the issues they've raised at them have received essentially no coverage.

They have also organized across the state a series of town hall meetings they call a "listening tour" as a way to give a forum to anyone who wants to complain about the impact of Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue's proposed budget. The series wound up Thursday, triggering the launch of the Democrats' legislative agenda, theoretically based on the input received from the public.

Since Thursday also marked the halfway point in the legislative session, it might seem a little late to be trotting out an "agenda." But Porter said, "As Democrats, we have to show an alternative."

Passing their agenda might be close to impossible anyway.

Republicans have a decisive majority in the House and Senate, allowing them to pass legislation with no need to appeal to Democrats. Their first and most controversial bill, tort reform, sailed through with hardly a bump and has already been signed into law. Democrats were ineffective in stopping it, but they weren't behaving as ferns in the corner.

The blistering speed with which Republicans pushed the bill through reminded some veterans of a House member a few years ago who used to keep a wooden train whistle in his desk to pull out and blow when the Democrats in control at the time appeared to be railroading a bill through. The whistle always drew chuckles from the back of the chamber, though it never derailed any legislation.

"We are going to continue to stop some of the bad legislation the Republicans are putting forward," Brown promised.

There may be no train whistles this year, but Democrats haven't actually found a foolproof way to stop the railroad.

The one exception has been Perdue's proposal to formally permit religious groups to receive taxpayer-funded grants, as they already do in practice. He said he fears a lawsuit will end the practice, just as the federal government is encouraging more "faith-based initiatives."

It's Georgia's constitution that technically prohibits the practice, meaning a constitutional amendment would be needed to change it. Amendments, unlike statutes, require a yes vote by two-thirds of each legislative chamber.

Republicans have a majority, but they need Democrats to reach that super-majority for amendments. On Feb. 10, they fell three votes short with the faith-based measure, giving Perdue his biggest embarrassment of the session so far. Only one Democrat, Sen. Steve Thompson of Powder Springs, crossed party lines to help the GOP.

That measure is likely to come back up, but Democrats promise not to yield in their demand for a change in the wording to prevent so-called vouchers from paying for church-school tuition. Wednesday, they said they've kept their party unity from cracking on the matter.

Besides stopping the faith-based amendment, another bragging point for Democrats also occurred in the Senate. They take credit for killing Senate Bill 5, a measure regarding public-;private partnerships, without a single vote cast.

Republican leaders in the Senate like President Pro Tem Eric Johnson of Savannah and Majority Whip Mitch Seabaugh of Sharpsburg took a lot of criticism in the press for defending the measure. Even conservative editorial writers and talk-show hosts blasted them.

A third example deals with the changes Rep. Sue Burmeister, R-Augusta, has accepted as necessary to pass her Women's Right to Know Act, which requires a 24-hour waiting period before abortions can be performed. In that time, patients are supposed to reflect on information their doctors will be required to give them.

Sarcastic speeches by Democrats softened her up about the bill, which originally would have allowed a rapist who fathered a child to sue a doctor who didn't comply with the act. Burmeister agreed to limit which fathers could sue under the act.

For Democrats so far this session, the change from more than 130 years of dominance to sudden powerlessness has been jarring. Their offices are smaller; no one clings on their every utterance, and there's even less work to do since they're no longer busy running things.

When the GOP came to power, it changed some of the rules it had used to frustrate Democratic leaders in the past. Still, Republicans provided some powerful examples of how to serve as the loyal opposition. The Democrats took note, and it didn't involve any Miracle-Gro or potting soil.

 Jones is the bureau chief for Morris News Service. He has been covering state politics in Atlanta since 1998. E-mail walter.jones@morris.com or call (404) 589-8424.